Tag: Google Lunar X Prize
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Errant command doomed Israeli moon lander, officials vow to try again
A camera aboard the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander captured this picture of the moon from an altitude of 15 kilometers, or about 49,000 feet. Credit: SpaceIL A command uplinked by mission control to resolve an error in the guidance system on the Israeli Beresheet moon lander inadvertently triggered a chain reaction that led to the…
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Israel’s Beresheet lander crashes on moon, ending privately funded space odyssey
A picture sent back to Earth from the Beresheet lander during its descent shows the moon’s cratered surface 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) below. In the foreground, a sign emblazoned with the Israeli flag is mounted to the spacecraft itself. (SpaceIL Photo / Twitter) An Israeli-built lander crashed onto the moon today during its final descent,…
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Israeli probe crashes in attempt to become first privately-funded moon lander
This image was taken by Beresheet at an altitude of 13.7 miles (22 kilometers) above the moon and relayed to mission controllers through NASA’s Deep Space Network. Credit: SpaceIL An Israeli-built spacecraft seeking to become the first privately-developed probe to land on the moon crashed on descent Thursday, but the mission was widely lauded as…
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Live coverage: Israel’s Beresheet lander lost during descent to the moon
Live coverage of the final descent and landing of the privately-funded Israeli Beresheet spacecraft on the moon. Text updates will appear automatically below. SpaceIL’s live video webcast of Beresheet’s landing on the moon begins at 1845 GMT (2:45 p.m. EDT) Thursday.
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Privately-funded Israeli probe set for daring moon landing attempt
An Israeli-built spacecraft financed through donations from billionaire philanthropists is set to make history Thursday when it tries to become the first privately-funded probe to land on the moon. If successful, the landing will make Israel the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and the first non-superpower to achieve the…
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Israel’s Beresheet lander brakes into lunar orbit
The Beresheet spacecraft’s six-minute deceleration burn Thursday steered the probe into orbit around the moon. Credit: SpaceIL Six weeks after launching from Cape Canaveral, an Israeli-built probe funded through private donations arrived in orbit around the moon Thursday, setting the stage for the mission’s final descent to the lunar surface April 11. Engineers at the…
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Israel’s Beresheet lander heads for make-or-break lunar capture maneuver
Artist’s illustration of the Beresheet lander in orbit round the moon. Credit: SpaceIL An Israeli spacecraft has one shot Thursday to swing into orbit around the moon with a six-minute engine firing, a critical maneuver that will set up for the privately-funded probe’s historic landing attempt April 11. The hydrazine-fueled main engine mounted to the…
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Israeli moon lander prepared for launch
The completed SpaceIL Beresheet lunar lander is pictured with its solar panels attached. Credit: SpaceIL The privately-funded Israeli Beresheet lunar lander is ready for its historic mission to the moon, aiming to become the first space probe to land on another planetary body without government funding. Funded by philanthropists and donors, the Beresheet lunar lander…
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‘Big step for Israel’: SpaceX launches lunar lander along with high-flying satellites
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launches Indonesia’s Nusantara Satu telecommunications satellite as well as the Israeli Beresheet lunar lander and an Air Force research satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (SpaceX via YouTube) A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sent the Israeli-made Beresheet lunar lander on the first leg of its journey to the…
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Photos: Beresheet lander tested for historic moon mission
The Beresheet moon lander will attempt to become the first privately-funded spacecraft to reach the moon, and these photos show the robotic probe’s journey through testing inside a clean room at Israel Aerospace Industries, followed by its attachment to a multi-satellite stack for launch on a Falcon 9 rocket. Beresheet, which means “genesis” or “in…